Which to use
“dark” is an adjective and “das” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #966
- “dark” frequency rank
- #10,675
- “das” frequency rank
- 11641
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dark | das |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light. | plural of da (“father”) |
Where the eye mixes dark and das
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dark with das
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dark is /dɑːk/ while das is /dɑːz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11641, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dark is recorded at frequency rank #966, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɑːk/. das is at rank #10,675, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɑːz/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 11641, this pair ranks #485,931 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dark vs das
Shared letters: ad. Private to "dark": kr. Private to "das": s.
"dark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "das" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dark ← adrk · dakr · darkk · darrk · ddark · drak
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dark" and "das" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "dark" or "das" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dark" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "das" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #485,931 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dark" and "das" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "das vs dox". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #485,931 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.